Kids Cats & Knitted Hats

I’m a Grad Student Now!

2007-11-08T23:18:00.001-05:00

Am I crazy? I've just enrolled in Kaplan University's MBA online program. My first class starts November 14 – just a few days away.

Why on earth would a 42 year old mom do such a thing?

Simple. All my adult life, I have made decisions based on my family (as it should have been). I became a teacher so I could have a schedule that allowed me to be home with my boys in the summer. I left teaching to pursue my direct sales business because I realized that I wasn't a good "balancer," and I was giving it all away in the classroom without leaving anything for my kids. I gave up my direct sales business when it started interfering with their after-school and weekend activities. Then I started working full time at the hotel to pay for Josh's college tuition (Go Hoos!).

So there I was, working in a hotel as an administrative assistant and group sales manager, making a small wage, knowing that I had more to offer. My BS degree should be good for something, shouldn't it? But it had gotten "dusty" over the years, so I started thinking of ways to update my skills and move into a higher paying job.

Then it occurred to me that if I need to learn something new anyway, I may as well go all the way and get my MBA. I was a good student in college and during my graduate classes while studying to be a teacher. And I've always told my kids that they can have anything they want as long as they're willing to work for it.

Of course I struggled with "Am I too old to do this?" Then my mom said something that made a lot of sense. She said, "If you start now, then in two years you'll be 45 with an MBA. If you don't do it, then in two years you'll STILL be 45." Pretty wise.

So here I am . . . two weeks before my 43^rd birthday, about to start my first class for my MBA. Oh, and did I mention that tomorrow I start my new job as director of sales at another hotel? I may be biting off more than I can chew, or at least more than I have energy for. But I might just find out that the stimulation makes me feel young and alive. OK, that might be wishful thinking.

Anyway, I hope to post more often than in the past. I hope to post from time to time about my courses and how I'm surviving them. If you're reading this now, please say a little prayer for my survival over the next two years or so.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

Virginia Tech

2007-04-16T18:16:00.000-04:00

I can't tear myself away from the news, and I can't stop crying for the families of the students who were killed or injured in the senseless shootings that took place today at Virginia Tech.

Just a few months ago our family toured the beautiful campus on one of our "help Josh pick a college" trips. He toured several schools that have good engineering programs; UVA was his first choice and VA Tech was number 2.

A few weeks ago he received an acceptance letter into the engineering school at VA Tech, and we felt pretty comfortable knowing that "Plan B" was in place. Then on April 2 he received his acceptance letter from UVA and his decision was made.

We've been so excited and so proud since his acceptance letter came, thinking about how bright his future looks.

But I'm reminded today -- once again -- that we can't be so arrogant as to assume we have anything beyond this moment. Other events that brought this realization: the Columbine shootings, 9/11, the Sniper shootings.

All I can do today is hug my kids a little closer, remind them to be safe, love them with all my heart, and then trust God with the rest.

My heart goes out to the parents who lost their children today. I pray that God gives them comfort and strength, knowing that He will bring good out of the unthinkable.

Just a quick update . . .

2006-11-22T12:13:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted -- two whole months!!

I started working at the hotel with my hubby (who happens to be a great boss!). I'm his bookkeeper, in charge of accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, and a host of other hotel related things. It started out as a 3-day a week part time job, but it quickly turned into four and a half days. I'm still leading our church's knitting group, and we meet on Thursday mornings for two hours and I go into work after we finish.

Speaking of the knitting group, what a blessing that has been! Our church was finally able to deliver meals to the homeless yesterday evening, so we took some bags of hats and scarves our knitting group had made. I was so worried that no one would want them, but was I ever surprised! I quickly found out that much of our knitting has been focused toward women and children, but we have quite a few men on our route too. So it's back to the stores to stock up on black, gray, dark blue, brown and dark green yarns for men's items.

One of our ladies had made a fluffy pink set, and I got to give it to a precious little girl who just loved it! She looked like a little princess. God has so richly blessed me in so many ways with this ministry.

We started out early last spring just making hats and scarves to distribute to the homeless when we delivered meals to them. But God had other plans, and our little ministry has quickly grown.

We started making tiny hats for premies at the local hospital. Then we were asked to make soft hats for patients who had brain surgeries. Next came a request for ultra soft hats for cancer patients. Our church schedules visits to a local nursing home, so we're trying to make prayer shawls as well, and the ladies in the group are also making prayer cloths to send to the prayer cloth ministry group to which I belong.

My knitting group means the WORLD to me! It is made up of six or seven ladies who come out faithfully every week, rain or shine, and I do mean that literally. Last week we were hit by some of the heaviest rains we've seen in this area in quite a while, and those ladies showed up at the church, ready to knit. As I said, God has truly blessed me with this ministry. I love the ladies who share this vision with me, and I was so touched last night seeing the looks on the faces of the people who received the gifts. One lady hugged me, and so many gave us such sincere thanks when they found out they had been made with prayer by a bunch of church ladies. All the thanks belongs to God; we're just trying to be obedient to His calling.

I wish it had been light enough to take some photos, especially of the little girl in the fluffy pink set. But you'll just have to use your imagination this time.

Here's the really funny thing. Every week at the beginning of the worship service our pastor makes announcements of upcoming events for the week, and every week he announces that the "Knifty Knitters" group will meet Thursday morning at 10:00. I think most of the men had it in their minds that we were just a group of chatty, gossipy, giggly knitters, and we had even been fussed at for having so many containers of yarn stored at the church. Then last night four of our men got to see what we had really been doing, and I think they were impressed. It made my heart smile!

Thanks for reading my ramblings. I hope to have some pictures up soon. I wish everyone a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving!! Don't we truly have so much to be thankful for?

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:17

One-Skein Exchange

2006-09-22T16:04:00.000-04:00

Over at the Markman Farms group, we did a one-skein exchange. Our task was to knit a dishcloth for our partner, and then send her the dishcloth, the remainder of the skein of yarn, and the pattern for the dishcloth.

My partner was MJ, and this is the wonderful dishcloth I received from her:

I just love the colors! It's such a neat pattern; I almost hate to put it in dishwater, but I just love the way these little cotton squares do their jobs! So it's going in the water now that I've photographed it and put it on my blog!

Thanks MJ!

Initial Exchange Package

2006-09-22T15:42:00.000-04:00

Another really cool exchange we did in the KKEXnMore group was an initial exchange. What a neat idea, and so much fun to shop for! We looked for little gifts that started with the initial of our partner's first or last name.

We shipped those packages out at the end of August, so at the beginning of September I found this package on my front porch:

How exciting! So I opened it and here's what I found:

Lots of individually wrapped gifts, each with a clue ("L is for . . . " or "C is for . . . "). How clever! I felt like a little girl at Christmas; I couldn't wait to rip open those packages!

Whiskers (our fat cat) helped me open the packages, and here's what we found.

A great little book (A Life God Rewards) -- I carry it with me and read it when I have to wait anywhere; a Coke cup, and a yummy candle . . .

A very pretty night light, some decorative fall leaves, and an adorable calendar for my purse . . .

Some care bears lip balm and some carmel latte lip balm (I LOVE lip balm!), Candy Corn, four carbineer clips (I use those for everything!), a magnet with a love message, and a cute cat figurine.

Tracee Stewart had my name. Thanks Tracee for a fun box of great surprises!

Oh, and poor Whiskers was just exhausted by the effort of opening all of those goodies!

Secret Pal - First Package

2006-09-22T15:21:00.000-04:00

It's been forever since my last post. My best friend's mom had a stroke in mid-August and passed away after two weeks in the hospital. I was at the hospital with her pretty much every day during that two weeks, and I've started working part time, so I'm behind on a lot of things.

Instead of cramming it all into one post, I'll write several smaller posts to get a little more up to date.

First, I participated in a few really cool loom knitting exchanges.

The first was a secret pal exchange through the KKEXnMore group. We sent two packages to our secret pal; the first was sent August 15 and the second was sent September 15.

Take a look at what my secret pal sent me in August!

All kinds of goodies -- a fabulous tote bag with a knitting kitty on it (two of my passions), some really cute note cards, an address book, some cotton yarn for making more dishcloths, yuuuuummmmy Dove chocolates (not pictured because they were long gone when this picture was taken), a cat note book, a Sudoku book and electronic game, Altoids . . . what a great surprise! Thanks Secret Pal!

Here's a close up of the kitty tote. I carried it with me every time I went to the hospital to visit my friend's mom, and everyone who knows me said it was perfect for me -- two things I love are kitties and knitting! LOL

What kind of yarn are you?

2006-08-12T11:33:00.000-04:00

Hmmmm, does this fit me? Probably so. . . .

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.You are a very hard worker, most at home when you're at home. You are thrifty and seemingly born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain Jane, but you are too practical to notice.
Take this quiz!

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2006-08-07T08:11:00.000-04:00

Yay! My hubby found my battery charger for my digital camera in his car this weekend. So I’ve taken some photos of a few things I’ve been working on.

This pattern was posted on the Prayer Cloth Ministry group. I think it’s called the Angel of Welcome? Anyway, I love it and I’ll be sending it to Tish soon. The pattern was written for the needles, so to convert it to the loom I changed all Ks to Ps and Ps to Ks on even rows.

I’ve been working on a Christian fish prayer cloth / dish cloth pattern. I charted it out and it looked fine, so I knitted it with cotton yarn on my dishcloth rake. Using the true knit stitch, it came out looking a little like a shark:

Using ewrap, it looks a bit like a whale:

So I’m going to tweak the pattern a bit and see if I can make it look like a fish.

Here’s a triple fish pocket prayer cloth I came up with. It’s hard to see the fish in the photo, but they’re a little clearer “in person.”

I’ll post the pattern shortly.

On another note, Décor Accents is going to break me! They’ve just come out with three new Wonderlooms – Extra Small Gauge, Fine Gauge and Extra Fine Gauge. At first I thought I had to have to the EFG so I could learn to knit socks. Now I know I don’t have the patience for sock-making. I already have a fine gauge AJAL, so I don’t really need that one. But the ESG – I think I could really bond with that one. So I’m off to order that one I think.

You know, I once knew a lady who loved cats (I do too, but this story is not about me). She had several that lived in the house, and her husband finally told her absolutely no more cats. But she just couldn’t resist when one day a furry ball arrived on her front porch. So she took it in and didn’t tell her husband about it. It took her husband quite a while to figure out they had a new family member, because the cats would appear and disappear from the room one at a time. It was only when he saw the new cat with one of the other cats that he finally caught on.

So I figure if I just add one loom here and there and never bring out more than one at a time, I can eventually own every loom I want and no one will ever know how bad my addiction really is! What do you think?

Please excuse me while I whine . . . .

2006-08-05T11:30:00.000-04:00

Waaaaaahhhh!!! I can't find my battery charger for my digital camera! I can't post any pictures of the things I've been working on.

I came up with a Christian Fish dishcloth and I can't even show it!

I'm on this fabulous journey with Flylady, so I am supposed to be able to find anything I need at a moment's notice. Then why is this charger being so stubborn? I've looked everywhere (well, obviously I haven't because I haven't found it yet).

Anyway, when I find it, I'll charge up those batteries and take some photos.

Meanwhile, please send good thoughts to me so I can find it. It's probably under a pile of clutter in my office.

We now return you to your regular looming schedule . . . .

Anchor Pocket Prayer Cloth

2006-07-18T12:18:00.000-04:00

I've been playing around with a pattern for an anchor pocket prayer cloth, and this is what I finally came up with:

This one was made on my dish cloth rake which has about a 3/8" gauge. It came out a little on the large size, so I tried it on my DA fine gauge AJAL (using only one side) and here's how it came out:

Here's a side-by-side view so you can compare the difference:

Anyway, if you'd like to make the anchor prayer cloth, you can download the pattern here. I'll also post it below in case the link doesn't work.

Anchor Pocket Prayer Cloth

Can be made on a small or fine gauge loom.

Cast on 16 stitches. I use the long tail or cable cast on.

Row 1: Purl

Row 2: Knit

Row 3: Purl

Row 4: Knit

Row 5: p2, k12, p2

Row 6: Knit

Row 7: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 8: Knit

Row 9: p2, k4, p4, k4, p2

Row 10: Knit

Row 11: p2, k2, p2, k1, p2, k1, p2, k2, p2

Row 12: Knit

Row 13: p2, k1, p3, k1, p2, k1, p3, k1, p2

Row 14: Knit

Row 15: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 16: Knit

Row 17: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 18: Knit

Row 19: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 20: Knit

Row 21: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 22: Knit

Row 23: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 24: Knit

Row 25: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 26: Knit

Row 27: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 28: Knit

Row 29: p2, k3, p6, k3, p2

Row 30: Knit

Row 31: p2, k3, p6, k3, p2

Row 32: Knit

Row 33: p2, k3, p5, k3, p2

Row 34: Knit

Row 35: p2, k12, p2

Row 36: Knit

Row 37: Purl

Row 38: Knit

Row 39: Purl

Bind off and weave in ends.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil. . . Hebrews 6:19

One of my favorite groups now is the Prayer Cloth Ministry group. If you're interested in making prayer cloths and sending them to the troops, join the group and get started! :)

God Bless,
Lisa

Dishcloths & Prayer Cloths

2006-07-14T16:58:00.000-04:00

I've made some more dishcloths on my dishcloth rake -- I now have a stack of dishcloths on my kitchen counter! Gotta find homes for these babies.

GRAPES cloth -- knitting pattern from www.rainyk.com/dishcloths. I made it on the loom by changing all Ks to Ps and Ps to Ks on odd rows. (I used the e-wrap for knits).

WATERING CAN Cloth - needle knitting pattern from Melissa's Knit Dishcloth Patterns Page. I made it on the loom by changing all Ks to Ps and Ps to Ks on EVEN rows. I used the "new" way of doing the flat stitch (Isela has a video here), and I didn't like it as much as the ewrap. The cloth is a little smaller that I like, and the stitch is too tight. I like my dishcloths "floppy." LOL

So I made another Watering Can cloth -- same pattern, but I used the part of the instructions that gave it a heart on the can. I used the ewrap and like the way it came out:

I put the flat stitch cloth on top of the ewrap cloth to show the difference in size:
Good news -- Isela has Melissa's permission to chart all of her free patterns and post them on the Looming Dishcloths group. The Swan cloth is already there; others will come as Isela gets to them.

I joined the Prayer Cloth Ministry group yesterday (a Yahoo group) and I've been looming pocket sized prayer cloths. I just love this idea -- giving a person something to hold in his or her hands that reminds him that someone has been praying for him. As I'm making the cloths and praying for the recipient, I am reminded that God already knows the person who will be receiving it. He knows them by name, and He knows what they need. Amazing, isn't it?

Anyway, here are some pictures of the cloths I've made since last night. I used patterns from the group files and loomed them on my dishcloth rake.

A Christian fish - I used ewrap for Ks:

Cross (used ewrap for Ks). It's black so it can be sent to troops. They wear these cloths under their helmets or in their pockets as a reminder that God is with them and they are being prayed for.

Pink awareness cloth - can you see the ribbon? I used the ewrap again for Ks.
Another cross in blue -- this time I used the flat stitch and really like the way it came out. I did make one boo-boo. Since the purl and flat stitches are made in a similar way, I sometimes lose track of what I'm doing, so there's a purl stitch that doesn't belong.

And one more cross cloth done with flat stitch.
I've printed out Dux's directions (posted on the LoomLovers group) for making a loom, and I'm going to ask hubby and son to give it a try. I would love to make some small looms for the ladies in our knitting group so they can make dish cloths, prayer cloths and scarves. Crossing my fingers!

Well, I'm heading upstairs to put the finishing touches on dinner. I'm making a big pot of "Mystery Soup." I was inspired by a post on Crystal's blog and have been freezing leftovers to make it. I've had it simmering on the stove most of the afternoon, and it smells delicious! I just have to call hubby and ask him to pick up some crusty bread and some salad. YUM!

Thanks for reading!

Yummy Creamsicle Pie Recipe

2006-07-10T14:01:00.000-04:00

One of my knitting group buddies shared this recipe with me last week and I thought I'd pass it along to my other knitting buddies. Enjoy!!

1 can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
1 8-0z carton Cool Whip, thawed
1 6-oz can frozen juice, thawed (orange, lemon or lime - use orange if you like creamsicles)
1 graham cracker crust

Mix together the sweetened condensed milk, Cool whip and juice. Pour into graham cracker crust and place in freezer until frozen.

That's all there is to it! Such an easy pie to make, but it tastes rich and yummy enough to serve to company. It's wonderful with a fresh cup of coffee.

Yummy!!

A Great Concert & Some Dishcloths

2006-07-07T10:06:00.000-04:00

Okay, first I have to rave about a great concert we experienced last night. We took the boys to the first day of King's Fest (a three-day Christian concert) at Kings Dominion.

We spent the afternoon riding all the roller coasters that I used to try to coax Josh into riding with me when he (and I) were younger. Well, now he's almost 17 and LOVES anything fast (especially if it has flips and turns), and now HE is the one coaxing ME into riding with him. Being the good mother that I am , I rode every one he took me to. Kyle wouldn't ride the Grizzly or the Anaconda (even Gerard stayed off of that one), but good old mom (and I do feel old now) rode them all. I was so glad when it was finally time to make our way to the concert!

I have to admit now that I was very tempted to take my knitting into the concert, because I was convinced that I wouldn't enjoy it. I love praise and worship music, but this concert included a band that the boys love, which I thought would mean aching ears for me. The bands that played last night were BreatheDeep (we hadn't heard of them, but they were really good), Kutless, and Newsboys.

Well, my husband and I agreed that this was probably the best concert we had ever experienced. Yes, Kutless was loud. You know, I hear Josh's music coming from his room (he plays guitar and is usually singing and playing along), and I thought it was just loud, headbanging rock music. He kept telling me he was listening to Christian music, but I had my doubts. But listening to their music and hearing the message they are trying to convey to young people, I realized that this "joyful noise" truly is pleasing to God. I'm so thankful that my sons have music that touches them and fills them with the RIGHT message. There are so many negative influences in the world today; I'm thankful that a group of talented young men are using their talent to reach young people for Christ.

Josh and Kyle thought they wouldn't enjoy Newsboys, because their music really isn't their cup of tea (they say it's more "pop" music). Just one song into the concert changed their tunes in a hurry. They were fantastic! What an AWESOME performance they gave! But what really struck me was that their true aim was to glorify God and to be used by Him. At one point, the lead singer gave his testimony of how God changed his life, and he prayed with us and led people to make a commitment to accept Jesus. Wow. Then in the next few minutes, we were "rocking out" again. It was so incredibly uplifting to look around and see hundreds of people with their hands held high, giving praise to God.

So today I don't have a voice (I gave it to Newsboys), I'm completely worn out, I feel like I've been hit by a truck, but my spirit is soaring!

Okay, on to knitting. I received my dishcloth rake from Cathy. I was so impressed first of all with the quick shipping, and the quality is great. It has smooth nylon pegs and is very lightweight. The gauge is between fine and small gauge, so it's perfect for making those sweet little squares.

My first project was a butterfly dishcloth. I found the butterfly motif in my 1000 Great Knitting Motifs book and made a pattern for a dishcloth.

First I made the butterfly with all purl stitches. It shows up better this way than using the garter stitch, but I don't like it as much.

Here it is with the butterfly made with the garter stitch. It doesn't show up as well, but I just like the overall look better. I will post patterns for both cloths as soon as I get a minute to type them up.

I love stars, so I knitted this star dishcloth that I found here.

I love using patterns that have you knit all even rows because they are super easy to convert. All you have to do is change the knits to purls and purls to knits on every odd row.

For example, if the pattern says to do a garter stitch border for the first four rows (which is knit every row in needle knitting), you just change the odd rows to purl, so it would be Row 1 - purl, Row 2 - knit, Row 3 - purl, Row 4 - knit. Then an odd row that says: k3, p31, k3 would be changed to p3, k31, p3.

For patterns that don't have you knit all even rows, then you just leave the even rows alone and change all odd rows (knits to purls and purls to knits).

I haven't tried converting any patterns that have anything more complicated than simple knits and purls, but I'm sure I will. There are so many great dishcloth patterns out there. So many patterns, so little time!

Thanks for reading!

Dishcloth Mania

2006-06-29T14:50:00.000-04:00

Whew! I finally have a chance to post. Flylady has been keeping me busy this week! You can see what I've been doing here.

We spent last weekend in Myrtle Beach for my younger son's national basketball championship. We had lots of fun, but we didn't get to spend much time at the beach -- too busy running to different gyms for games.

We made it to the beach Friday afternoon. Te'Quan, the big guy on the left, had never seen the ocean before, so it was a treat sharing his first beach experience with him. My son Kyle coaxed him into the water, but he was a little freaked out by the waves and the saltiness of the water, and he definitely didn't like the sand on his wet skin.

He's our "gentle giant" -- 12 years old, 6'4" and almost 200 pounds. Wow! He was our almost-adopted son this season, traveling with us to all of the tournaments. What a sweetie. You can see how he dwarfs Kyle (and everyone else, including the coaches!).

Our older son had no complaints about the beach. He enjoyed relaxing and tanning.
We visited "Fun World" which had miniature golf and go carts. I think we made it through 9 holes of mini golf before the guys became totally bored with it. The go carts were a big hit!

One of the highlights of the weekend was our visit to Medieval Times, where we ate "baby dragon" and other fine delicacies (okay, so it was chicken, ribs, potatoes, soup, and apple turnovers) with our hands and watched a stunning contest between six handsome knights on beautiful horses.

How did we do in the tournament? We came in 9th place, but the good news is that the only two teams who beat us were the two teams who played each other in the championship game. If you have to lose, might as well lose to the champs!

On the knitting front, while we were at the beach I had plenty of time to knit. I wanted to work on something that would allow me to take a smaller loom, so I decided to work on some dishcloths. I am completely hooked on these darling cotton squares!

I used two looms to make the cloths -- my fine gauge 12" AJAL and my Wonderloom. The fine gauge makes them a little too tight for my taste, especially after they have been washed. But since many of the patterns call for more than 35 stitches, I made most of them on my fine gauge loom.

I've knitted a couple of patterns that Loomin Cat has converted for the looms.

This is the teacup pattern, knitted backward! I cast on left to right and started row one on the right (going toward the left). Nope -- gotta do it the other way. I did it again and here's what I got:

Yay me -- it's right!

So then I did a musical note:

. . . a turtle (this one was done on my small gauge Wonderloom):

. . . and one with three crosses (you can't see the crosses very well; I should have used a solid yarn):

We had our knitting group today; only three ladies were able to come. Instead of doing a drawing as I had planned (to give one of the dishcloths away), I just gave each lady there one. They seemed to love them.

I ordered a dishcloth rake from Loomin Cat this week, and I'm so excited to get it.

I'm going through my Knitting Stitch Bible and 1000 Great Knitting Motifs books to get ideas for other dishcloths. I charted a pattern for a butterfly and am working on writing it up (I like working from charts, but for the dishcloths it's faster for me to read a pattern). As soon as I finish it and my rake arrives, I'll knit it and share the pattern if it turns out well.

Okay, I have to stop playing now and get to work. I received a shipment of jewelry this week that I have to get up on my website. After that, I think I'll play some more! LOL

Thanks for reading!

Fair Isle Hat & a Lesson Learned

2006-06-20T14:25:00.000-04:00

I made a hat using a fair isle pattern from my 1000 Great Knitting Motifs book. I used 60 pegs on the small gauge WonderLoom because the pattern is a 10-stitch pattern.
What lesson did I learn? It's about the way the yarn is carried or dropped when you're not using it.

The pattern is ten stitches wide and five rows. I used three colors -- red for the main color, black for the wavy stripes, and white for the designs. For the first ten rows of the pattern (which was two complete pattern repeats since the pattern was made up of five rows), I was following the pattern and for each row I was wrapping all red pegs (all pegs for red stitches) for the entire row. Then I would take the white yarn and wrap all white pegs, then all of the black pegs. Then I would knit off the entire row.

After that second set of pattern repeats, I had a light bulb moment. The yarn strands inside the hat were really long, and I figured there must be a way to keep that from happening.

So when I started the next set of pattern repeats, I wrapped and knitted off one peg at a time. If I had a series of three red stitches, I wrapped those three pegs and knitted them off. If the next stitch was white, I would give a little twist so the white yarn was under the red, wrap the peg for the white stitch and then knit it off. I found that the yarn strands were much neater this way. Here are some pictures of the results:

That's the inside of the hat. I did 10 rows the first way and 10 rows the second way.

Here are the yucky long strands that resulted from wrapping each color all the way around, one color at a time. No twisting of the strands means they're all just hanging there. Yuck.

Here's the result of twisting the strands so the ones that are carried longer get tucked under some of the other stitches. Much neater.

Next time I do one of these I'll remember to take pictures of changing colors and doing the little twist I described. If someone has a better way of doing it, please share it with me. I'd rather not reinvent the wheel if I don't have to (mine would come out square!).

We're off to Myrtle Beach tomorrow for my younger son's National Basketball Championship! It's about a 7-8 hour drive, so I'm hoping to stay awake long enough to get some serious knitting done. I'm sure our spare time will be spent on the beach or doing lots of fun "outdoorsy" things, but I'll find time to knit in the evenings before going to bed. Wish us luck down there!

Thanks for reading!

Charted Colorwork Hat

2006-06-09T20:09:00.000-04:00

I've been playing with my Wonderloom again. I absolutely LOVE this loom. I think it's probably my favorite now (at least when I'm not playing with one of the others!).

I made this hat using a charted pattern from my 1000 Great Knitting Motifs book that I purchased on Amazon. It was pretty easy, but I did have to really concentrate while I was doing it. It's a 14-stitch pattern, and I found it easier to mark every 14th peg on the loom to remind me when I came to the end of a pattern repeat. I think I made too many rows of ribbing; next time I'll stop at about an inch or so.

This is just a simple little hat for a baby with a diagonal stripe pattern. I had done this before on some larger hats and wanted to do another in pink.

Our church knitting group is having a blast! We meet every Thursday morning at 10:00 AM and knit / chat for about two hours. What a neat group of ladies we have! One of my knitting buddies brought me a huge bag to tote all of my stuff, and then she brought me a Swiffer Max. I'm going to adapt the Swiffer cover pattern to fit it and make some for both of us. Shhhh . . . don't tell her!

Back to the knitting group. Here are some of the things we've accomplished so far:

A bunch of baby hats for the NICU at our local hospital. We delivered a bag of about 38 hats last week. I tried to make some booties, but I just haven't gotten the hang of it yet. If they need booties, I'll BUY them! LOL

Look at this sweet little hat! One of our knitters made it and said she messed up on the top so she added the pompom. I wish you could see how teeny it is. It's just the cutest little thing ever. Some mommy is going to be thrilled!

Here's a bunch of hats that will be delivered with meals to the homeless in the fall when the weather starts to get cooler. Our goal is to have 100 hats & scarves ready for delivery in October. So far we have 23 hats and just a handful of scarves, so we've got some work to do. I went today and bought a bunch of Red Heart Super Saver yarn on sale at AC Moore, so I'll start on the scarves next week.

Can you believe I'm still working on the boys' afghans? Here's Josh's on the 48" Infinity board. I'm on the sixth stripe, and boy is he rushing me to finish it! It's going to be so warm and much softer than I thought. I've only finished two complete stripes on Kyle's and just added the yarn for the third stripe last night. I'm doing his on the 80" Infinity Rake in garter stitch. I LOVE the way it's coming out. I'm already planning my next project on this loom -- I want to do something with several different stitch patterns. It's going around in my mind; I'll have to get it on some chart paper and start playing!

I've been flying with FlyLady for two weeks. I'm getting my house whipped into shape a little at a time. You can read about that over at my other blog. For now, I have to go do my "evening routine" and settle in with the guys for a movie. Thanks for reading!

Diamond Rib Pattern Hat

2006-05-30T19:41:00.000-04:00

Here's another hat I made on my Wonderloom using a stitch pattern from The Knitting Stitch Bible. I can't remember the exact name of the stitch pattern, but it's in the rib section. I love the way it turned out. This is another hat that will be donated to our homeless ministry in the fall. I'm off to loom something else!

"Zig Zag" Pattern Hat

2006-05-29T17:03:00.000-04:00

I'm having fun with the new book I purchased recently, The Knitting Stitch Bible. I can't remember who it was or from which yahoo loom knitting group, but someone recommended this book a couple of weeks ago. It's so easy to use the stitch patterns on the looms because they are all represented on charts.

Here is a hat I made using the "Zig Zag" stitch pattern on 60 pegs of the Wonderloom. It's just a series of knit and purl stitches to make the design.

I started with the cable cast on and did a rib "brim" (K1 P1). I did a row of knit and then started with the zig zag pattern. I think I did 5 repeats of the 8-row pattern. Then I did another knit row and used the gather bind off method to finish the hat.

I don't think I can share the specific stitch pattern since it came from the book. I'm playing around with another pattern right now on a hat that is about half finished. I love the way it's looking. I'll post a photo when it's done.

I found The Knitting Stitch Bible at Amazon.com for less than $10. It was worth the money in my opinion.

Okay, I'm off to make dinner. The FlyLady has kicked my rear today, but boy is my house looking good! :)

I met the FlyLady today . . .

2006-05-25T10:20:00.000-04:00

Okay, I've been inspired to try it the FlyLady way. I'm starting today to get my house in order, thanks to a link I found on Brenda's blog. I've started a blog to keep me on track -- you can read it if you wish. If you're a flybaby too, be sure to post. I'm sure we'll need each other's encouragement! Now I'm off to shine my sink . . .

I finished a dishcloth on my 12" AJAL. The funny thing is that I was reading Sara's blog yesterday evening and she had just finished a dishcloth -- almost the same one I had done. Great minds think alike I guess!

Loving my New Looms!

2006-05-24T15:21:00.000-04:00

I received a great surprise Monday -- my DA looms arrived! I received the 12" fine gauge AJAL and the new small gauge Wonderloom. I'm loving them!

I made a premie hat on each just to try them out.

The one I made on the Wonderloom didn't take long at all. I love this loom! It's so easy to adjust -- just slip off the elastic band, slide the spacer, slip the elastic back on and knit away. It's very lightweight and fits easily in my bag so I can take it anywhere. I LOVE it! My next project is a pair of baby booties.

The one I made on the AJAL took a little longer, but I love the tiny stitches. I used the basic e-wrap and 1 over 2. It takes a while to get used to those little cotter pins spaced so close together. I'm making a dishcloth on it now with lots of knits and purls, and I was surprised at how easy purling is with the space in the pins. I love it! One tip I'd offer anyone thinking about ordering a fine gauge loom is also ordering the wood tool. It works better than the purple KK tool and even the In the Attic tool (which is usually my favorite).

I'm still working on the afghans. Josh's is coming along very nicely. I'm getting ready to start the fifth stripe now. I can't wait to finish both of them so I can spend more time with some smaller projects without feeling like I'm supposed to be working on the big ones. Hmm, even my hobby can make me feel guilty. Not good! LOL

Thanks for reading!

2006-05-19T07:03:00.000-04:00

I feel like I've taken a vacation from looming because I don't have a lot of completed projects, but that's not the case. I've been diligently working on the afghans for my sons and I did manage to finish the prayer shawl. Note to self: try to have no more than one or two big projects going at one time. I need some instant gratification once in a while! LOL

Here's the prayer shawl I made for my friend's mom. I made it with Homespun on the DA Prayer Shawl loom using 63 pegs. I used the suggested pattern (odd rows K3P3, even rows P3K3). I like the way it came out, but somehow I must have gotten off on my stitches on one row, because one row just doesn't look right. Grrrr. But I keep telling myself that there's only One who is perfect, so it's okay if this mere human makes a mistake here and there. I think she'll still love it. Next one I make I believe I'll use a more open stitch.

Josh's afghan is coming along very nicely. I'm using three colors -- dark blue, light blue and white. The next strip after the one I'm working on will be light blue. The yarn I'm using is plain old Caron (one pound), and I'm pleasantly surprised at how soft and warm it's turning out. I've gotten the hang of using the infinity board, so I can finish several rows in an evening before switching to the other afghan.

Kyle's afghan is going much more slowly because it's being done on the 80" infinity rake. I'm wrapping, knitting off and purling almost 250 pegs each trip up and down the board, so I don't finish more than two or three rows in an evening. I might have it finished before he graduates college (he's 11 now!). I love the way it's turning out too. It will be so warm and so BIG. This might be a blanket that stays on his bed rather than an afghan he snuggles under on the couch.

Speaking of my boys, just take a look at what they did for me for Mother's Day. They went all by themselves (no help from dad) and picked out the basket and filled it with my favorites -- Sweet Pea bubble bath, shower gel, lotion and spray from Bath and Body Works, and four skeins of YARN! Talk about touching my heart! They usually don't love making trips to the "yarn store" with me, so knowing that they went into the store and picked it out by themselves is pretty cool.

I added two new books to my library this week. 1000 Great Knitting Motifs has lots of charted patterns that I can't wait to try out. The Knitting Stitch Bible has tons of stitch patterns represented by charts so they're easy to create on a loom. I can't wait to get started with both of them! Now if I could just find a few extra hours in the day. Oh, I ordered both of these books from Amazon.com and paid less than $10 each.

Here's my progress after day 3 of the Decor Accents group May Knit-a-Long (you can also find it here). On past KALs I've printed out the directions and have done several days worth of rows at one time. This time I'm printing them out and working the rows one day at a time. I believe this is called shadow knitting or illusion knitting? Looking at it straight on it just looks like a bunch of stripes. But look at it from an angle and you can see a pattern starting to appear. I can't tell what it is yet. I finished day 4 last night but haven't photographed it yet. Can't wait to see what it is!

Okay, I'm off to grab a cup of java and get this day started. I have to clean the middle level of my house -- I'd be embarrassed if ya'll stopped by for an unexpected visit and saw my mess! Then I'll work a little on my jewelry website and start working on my husband's coworker's website. We have a cool deal going on. She sells clothes in a booth at Virginia Bazaar (a giant flea market) and I sell jewelry from my website. We've worked out a deal where she will take some of my jewelry with her to sell in her booth and I'll put some of her clothes on a website for her.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Have a great Friday!

VA State Champs!!

2006-05-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

My son's basketball team won their State Championship last weekend in Roanoke, VA! Quite an accomplishment for a team that has been together only two years. Next year we have to move up to Division I, but we're ready for it. We won all of our games in the state championship tournament by between 16 and 25 points. In the photo above, each coach is next to his son. Three proud dads, wouldn't you say? The other moms and dads were with me, taking photos of our champs.

Kyle with his medal

Kyle with some of his teammates. These guys are so funny! They're just so calm and collected, even after a big win like this one. To them, it's just another day, another game, another win.

Gerard (my hubby / one of the coaches) with Kyle after the game. A proud moment!

My mom, dad, sister and great-nephew (sister's grandson) were able to meet us in Roanoke for the tournament. We live about 6 hours from them (they're in WV, we're in VA), so any time we can "meet in the middle" we try to take advantage of it.

My mom, dad and Josh (older son) -- speak no, hear no, see no . . .

My sister and her grandbaby. He's such a little nut! My boys had him saying all kinds of silly things this weekend. He's a little sponge, soaking up everything you say to him.

My sister with the boys - Josh and Kyle. Take a look at the cutie in the middle. At the risk of sounding like a bragging mama, I just have to tell you that he's not just a pretty face -- he's also really smart. He just brought home a straight A & A+ report card, and he got the results back for an exam he took to become a Certified Drafter. He received the same score as his teacher. He's a junior in high school and plans to become an engineer.

Can you believe how big this kid is? He just turned 12 in January. We always get questioned at the tournaments about him, so we started carrying his birth certificate with us! We thought it was so funny seeing him next to my petite little mom.

The "secret" of our success? Our coaches and players gather to pray before and after every game. God is at the center of everything we do, even our basketball games. Does He give us a win everytime? No, I don't think so. But our boys are learning to rely on Him in every circumstance, and they are learning to win with class and lose with grace. We have a great bunch of coaches, kids and parents, and our basketball program is about more than just learning basketball skills.

On the knitting front, I have two major and one semi-major projects going on at the same time. On my 48" infinity board is one son's afghan (finally cast on and a few inches completed). On the 80" infinity rake is the other son's afghan. And I have a prayer shawl on the prayer shawl loom. I've been trying to work a little on each every evening, so they're all taking a while to complete.

To satisfy my need to finish something, I'm also throwing in a few smaller projects along the way. I finished some scrunchies -- here are just a few:

I bought Isela's Cable Baguette pattern and have two that I need to finish:

I did the black one on my small gauge travel hat loom. It made a cute little mini bag to carry a cell phone, lipstick and a few other small essentials. I love it! I just need to stitch up the sides and make the liner, but first I need to study the mattress stitch again to make sure I'm doing it correctly.

The ivory one was done on the red loom as the pattern suggested. It's much bigger, and I know I'll carry it all the time! I'll have to make others in different colors. I couldn't find the handles with the straight end so I'm using round bamboo handles. Next time I'll order online if I can't find the others at the store. I've added one of the handles to this one; now I just need to attach the other one, stitch up the sides and add the liner. I can't wait to carry it!

When I get them finished I'll photograph them together to show the difference in size.

The kitties get the last word today:

This is one of Bud's favorite spots when he's ready to play. He hangs over the rail on the stairs (usually during dinner) and meows until someone comes to play with him. Silly kitty! That's my son up there with him. Kinda look alike, don't they?

Sometimes you just have to claim your sunspot and take a nap!

Thanks for bearing with me today. Happy knitting (and gardening!!)

Some Finished & Some Started

2006-04-27T09:54:00.000-04:00

Remember a few posts back I found Bernat Frenzy yarn at our Dollar Tree for $1 a skein. I made this set to donate in the fall to our homeless ministry - a hat and scarflet that used 3 skeins of Frenzy. I think from now on I'll use it for brims and trim to make it go farther. The lighting for the picture isn't good and doesn't show the color very well.

Here's another charted hat I did.

I think I'll like this pattern a little better in fine gauge. I ordered the 12" fine gauge AJAL and the new small gauge Wonderloom today from Decor Accents. Time to stalk the postman again!

I'm working on a prayer shawl for my best friend's mom on my Prayer Shawl loom from Decor Accents (I'm not affiliated with DA, by the way. I'm just highly addicted to their looms!). Everyone calls my friend's mom "Nan" because her grandkids call her Nana (and we call her dad "Pop"). They are truly family to us. If we're not out of town for the holidays, we're always in the middle of their family celebrations. They're such special folks. Nan has just been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and isn't feeling well, so I'm making this prayer shawl for her. When you read this, please say a prayer for her and for my best friend who is going through chemo as a follow up to her recent colon cancer surgery. Sounds like they're going through a rough time, and they are, but you'd be blown away by their faith.

Here's another view of the prayer shawl -- this is where I am after less than one skein of Homespun. You can see the pieces of yarn I used to mark the pegs. I went around the loom wrapping three pegs and leaving three pegs blank. I'm using all 63 pegs -- odd rows are wrapped K3P3; even rows are wrapped P3K3.

I bought the yarn for blankets for both of my sons. I wanted to do them in Homespun, but I couldn't find the colors they wanted. I'm using Caron yarn since they had the perfect colors.

My younger son is a die-hard Detroit Pistons fan, so his blanket is going to be royal blue and red. I've started his on the 80" small gauge infinity rake. I'm using the garter stitch -- knit one row, purl one row. I like this stitch pattern because you can basically finish two rows at once by wrapping the entire loom and then knitting off a peg and purling it in the same step (see the video here).

My older son is a North Carolina Tarheels fan, so his blanket will be blue and white. I haven't been able to find a "Carolina blue" yarn, so I went for the closest light blue I could find and will also use Navy blue. His blanket will be done on the 48" infinity board. He's a little insulted that his brother's was started before his, so he (good naturedly) says I owe him a loomed visor beanie to make up for it. If anyone has come up with a good visor beanie pattern, please point me in the right direction for it.

This weekend is the State Championships for my son's basketball team. My mom, dad, sister and my niece's 28-month old son will be joining us for the tournament -- I'm so excited to see them! We live about 6 hours away from them and don't get together nearly as often as we'd like. Of course I'll take some of my projects to work on, but I might not accomplish much.

Thanks for reading!

Orioles 18 - Cleveland 9

2006-04-20T11:26:00.000-04:00

This week is the boys' spring break, but since Gerard just started his new job as general manager of the Comfort Inn in January, we couldn't go anywhere for the week. So we're trying to do several "little" things with the guys while they're off school.

Last night we headed up to Baltimore for a baseball game. What a game it was!

The boys think I'm such a dork because I carry the camera everywhere and make them stop for photos. They're just too cute not to photograph! Look at that incredibly blue sky! It was so clear and warm -- the perfect evening for a baseball game. We bought our tickets and were surprised at the great seats we were able to get. We were just a few rows behind the wall at left field. One Cleveland homerun ball ended up in our section, but we didn't catch it. Good thing too, because the crowd chanted "Throw it back" to the guy who caught it.

Another photo op, this time with mom in the picture. Funny how the main photographer takes all the great shots but is rarely in a picture.

Just look at those happy faces!

Waiting for the game to begin (and for the popcorn and peanut vendors to come by)

Our seats were directly behind the left fielder, and we were seated right behind some die-hard Orioles fans who lightheartedly heckled Jason Michaels, Cleveland's left fielder, the whole game. Here he is talking to two of his teammates. He was a great sport -- he looked toward the crowd several times, but he never seemed irritated by the teasing they were doling out.

The Orioles ended up winning, 18-9. What a great game it was! The O's scored 7 runs in the fifth inning.

Yes, I did take my knitting bag with one of my new scarf boards and some yarn. But the game was too exciting, so I didn't even take it out of the bag.

Today I'm going to work on a swiffer cover that was posted on this blog. It's a very sunny, warm day here in VA, so we've got to find something to do outside!

Thanks for reading. Happy looming!

Hat Frenzy

2006-04-19T11:58:00.000-04:00

Since receiving my box of looms a couple of days ago, I have been knitting hats like crazy on my Small Gauge Youth Travel Hat Loom. Well, okay, I've only done two hats, but I've only had the loom since Monday. So it's sort of been a frenzy.

I did this one with Red Heart yarn using only one strand. I love being able to make a hat with only one strand of yarn. I started with the Cable Cast on and did a few rows of K1P1 for a ribbed brim. Then I started my pattern, the same one I used for the baby hats a few posts earlier.

Since the youth size travel hat loom has 74 pegs (which isn't evenly divisible by anything except 2), I had to improvise with my pattern. Look closely above and you'll see one set of blue stripes separated by only one brown stitch instead of two like the others. So I learned on this hat to use a chart to plan my patterns.

This is what I came up with next. I used Microsoft Excel to make a chart, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get it on here. It's really easy though, so I'll try to describe how to do it.

I started with the cable cast on and did a ribbed brim. (By the way, I don't turn up the ribbed brim. I just knit a few rows of K1P1 until I have the length I want, and then I start doing the ewrap or whatever stitch I happen to be using for the hat). I did one row of all black -- next time I would probably do two black rows. Then I started with the pattern:

A. Wrap pegs 1, 2, and 3 with black, skip the fourth peg. Starting with peg 5, wrap four pegs with black and skip one peg all the way around the loom. When you reach the end, start with the red yarn. I started with a long tail that I let hang in the center of the loom (instead of starting with a slip knot on one of the pegs). With the red yarn, wrap all the skipped pegs, carrying the yarn behind the pegs as you go. Knit the bottom loops over the top.

B. For the next row, start wrapping with the red yarn. Wrap peg 1, skip peg 2. For the rest of the row, when you come to a peg with a red loop on it, wrap the peg just before it and just after it and skip the others. You will wrap peg 3, skip 4, wrap peg 5, skip 6 and 7, wrap 8, skip 9, wrap 10, etc, all the way around the loom. When you finish with the red, pick up the black yarn and wrap all skipped pegs. Knit the bottom loops over the top.

C. For the next row, repeat step A.

D. Wrap the next two rows with black yarn.

Repeat A - D until the hat measures the length you want. Then bind off using the gathering method. I purchased a Honeycomb Hat pattern from Denise Layman, and in it she describes a great way to decrease for the top of the hat so it isn't so bulky. I won't describe it here since it's a part of her pattern, but that's how I did the top of this hat. After binding off, weave in all ends and you're finished.

I always ask my boys to try on the hats I make to see who they will fit (I try to label them for youth, adult, etc. when I package them to be donated). My younger son tried this one on and quickly claimed it for himself.

I made one other hat, but this one was done on my 20" AJAL. This is the Sidewinder Hat found at Loom Knit Designs. It was fun to do, and it makes a large hat with a fold-up brim. It took me a while, so I don't know if I'll be making many of these.

Now I have to hop in the shower and get ready for some fun. We're heading up to Baltimore to see the Orioles play Cleveland (I think?). I love baseball games, but this time I think I'll take one of my new scarf looms to keep my hands busy.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Rainy Day! My Looms Came!!

2006-04-17T14:34:00.000-04:00

Woooohooooo! Did you hear my cries of sheer glee when I heard the postman in my driveway today? I knew the truck in the driveway meant boxes on the porch for me. Here's what he left:

I calmed myself enough to stop squealing while I was on the front porch and brought the precious cargo into the house. Even though I knew what was inside, the anticipation was just delicious! I opened the box to find these treasures from Decor Accents:

Oooooh, aren't they beautiful?? Here's what that much anticipated box contained:

* Prayer shawl loom
* Youth size travel hat loom
* Fashion Scarf Board - Regular Gauge
* Fashion Scarf Board - Small Gauge
* Fashion Scarf Board - Fine Gauge
* 80" Infinity Rake - Small Gauge

Click the picture to see a closer view and labels for everything. I already have plans for each of them, and don't be surprised if they all have a project on them simultaneously. My loom addict buddies know what I'm talking about. That old rule "finish what you started before starting something new" doesn't apply in our world! We can never have enough yarn, enough looms or enough "works in progress!"

My hubby came home from work just as I was snapping this picture:

He informed me that he was really glad the looms had come in because I've been rather "crabby" at lunchtime lately. Each day the postman would break my heart by driving by without leaving this beloved box. I really think he's been driving around with it in his truck for a week but just wanted me to suffer. Hmmmf.

My hubby is the BEST. I had placed my order with DA, and he called them and added the 80" rake. He's very supportive and encouraging with this new hobby of mine (as he is with everything else). I think I'll keep him around.

I went by the Dollar Tree to pick up candy for the boys' Easter baskets (one never gets too old for chocolate, you know), and guess what I found there? YARN! Here's the stash I picked up there:

$1 per skein - not bad at all! I picked up "a few" more elastic pony tail holders to make scrunchies. I think I'm set for a while with those!

I got several skeins of Bernat Frenzy to use for hats and scarves. The jury is still out, but I think I'll like it. I'm working on a hat right now on the green KK using a 1 over 2 stitch; I've almost used a whole skein of yarn and the hat is only about half finished. However, it does feel very soft and lightweight.

I wasn't sure about the Patons Evita, but I picked up some just to see what I could do with it. You know those cute crochet belts that seem to be popular right now? Well, I made one of those on the red KK loom:

I cast on eight pegs and wrapped back and forth on those eight pegs, using the first and last pegs as turning pegs. I just wrapped and knitted off until it was the length I wanted and then cast off with the crochet chain method. This one is a little less than five feet in length. I guess you could wear it as a sash and just tie it around the waist, or it would also look cute with a buckle of some sort.

Well, that's it for now. We're heading to a movie when the hubby gets off work; we're going to see Scary Movie 4. I hope it's as funny as the third one was!

Happy Looming!

What Kind of Coffee are You?

2006-04-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

You Are a Cappuccino

You're fun, outgoing, and you love to try anything new.
However, you tend to have strong opinions on what you like.
You are a total girly girly at heart - and prefer your coffee with good conversation.
You're the type that seems complex to outsiders, but in reality, you are easy to please

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Let's Make a Scrunchie!

2006-04-13T11:39:00.000-04:00

Scrunchies are so easy to make! They are basically just a hat brim with a pony tail holder inside. When I first started making them, I was trying to place the pony tail holder on the pegs -- mission impossible. Then I had a lightbulb moment (actually a slap the forhead, DUH moment) and figured out there was an easier way. Here's how I make my scrunchies:

Materials:
* Blue Knifty Knitter loom
* pick tool - so far, the one I bought from In the Attic is my favorite - I have pencil grips on mine to make it more comfy in my hand
* yarn - for this one I used Moda Dea Espree yarn in Majesty -- Fun Fur is also great
* elastic pony tail holder

Cast on by ewrapping all pegs around the loom. Ewrap all pegs again - now you have two loops on each peg. Knit the bottom loop over the top loop - this is your first row. Continue wrapping and knitting off for 10 rows.

Place the pony tail holder in front of the first few pegs. Don't put it on the pegs; just rest it there.

Find the first loops you made; bring up these first loops and place them on the pegs, just like you're making the brim of a hat. As you place each loop on its peg, make sure the pony tail holder is between the peg and the loop. Take a look at the pictures -- you can see that the pony tail holder is inside the brim but not on the pegs.

After a few pegs, you can bring up the remaining loops through the pony tail holder. I use my pick tool to place the loops on the pegs.

When all loops are placed on the pegs, do a double check to make sure you have two loops on each peg and they are lined up correctly.

Knit the bottom loop over the top loop. Remove with the flat removal method with one or two crochet chains.

Ta-da! In less than 30 minutes you have a cute scrunchie!

It's Finished! It's Finished!!

2006-04-12T22:29:00.000-04:00

I finished my first afghan this evening! Yippeeeee! I thought I had one more skein of Homespun to add, but hubby said it was long enough. As soon as I got it off the loom he snuggled up under it (while talking on the phone of all things). It seems much wider than the 48" I was expecting. I'll grab the measuring tape and measure it as soon as I can get it away from the hubster.

Just to recap -- the afghan was made on the Decor Accents 48" Infinity Board with just a little bit less than eight skeins of Lion Brand Homespun (I believe the colors were Fawn, Harvest and Ranch). I used the Lucet cast on method and the zig zag or fashion stitch as described in the KK II Pamphlet. When it was the length we wanted, I took it off with the crochet chain method. Is that what it's called?

What's to love about the 20" AJAL from Decor Accents? Well, I was doing the Month of Spring Knit Along and had the first six rows of the yellow dishcloth finished - one more row and it would be all done, but it wasn't due to be posted until the next day. We had a basketball tournament on Saturday afternoon, and I wanted to take along something to knit. So I grabbed my AJAL and another ball of cotton yarn and started the KAL again on the other side of the board. How cool is that?

If you click on the photo you can make out the flower pattern. I have used one of the dishcloths and washed it already, so the stitches are tighter, showing off the pattern much more clearly. I know it's crazy, but I just love using those little cotton squares. I want to fill up my dishcloth drawer with them!

Now it's off to bed, and then tomorrow I'll be stalking the postman again. I'm waiting for my new DA looms which should be in any day now, or so I think. Hubby received the email saying they had been shipped, but he can't remember when they shipped or how they're even getting here. Okay, he's not the greatest secretary, but he's cute and he can reach the top shelves so I keep him around.

Thanks for reading. Happy looming!

Afghan Progress & Some New Hats

2006-04-08T10:57:00.000-04:00

Oh, I just LOVE my Infinity Loom!!! I'm working on an afghan for my hubby -- so far I've used six skeins of Homespun yarn in colors he chose. Only three more skeins and we're finished! Unfortunately, I don't think he'll be using it alone. Miss Whiskers has claimed it for herself.

I love the way this baby is turning out. At first I was afraid the colors were too bland, but it's really looking rich and plush. And it's so SOFT!

I finished two baby hats last night.

I saw a candy cane hat on the Good to be Girl blog and decided to try it out. Being the big chicken that I am, I made a small version on the red knifty knitter just to make sure I was smart enough to recreate the pattern.

For the pink and white one, I started with two strands of pink and knitted enough rows for the rolled brim. Then I wrapped two pegs and skipped one peg around the loom. Since the red KK has an odd number of pegs, I had to improvise when I came to the end and left two blank. Then I added the white yarn (holding two strands as one) and wrapped all the skipped pegs. After knitting off, I started the next row with the white yarn and wrapped the peg just before the peg in the previous row that had a white loop. (Does that make sense?) Then I used the pink to wrap all the skipped pegs. In other words, you're changing where you wrap the white yarn on each row by one peg. Since the red KK has an odd number of pegs, I had to wrap the last two pegs with white.

So the pattern goes like this on the red KK with 31 pegs:
P = pink, W = white

P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W W
P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W W P
W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W P P W W P P

and so on until you reach the desired length.

When the hat was about 6 inches long, I did a complete row of pink with regular e-wrap, then a row flat knit, then finished with the gathering removal method.

For the blue and white hat, I started with the cable cast on and did a few rows of K1 P1 to create a ribbed brim. Then I started the pattern, this time wrapping two pegs white and one peg blue. The rest was the same as with the pink and white hat.

When I do this hat again, I'll use either the green KK or the travel hat loom that should be arriving soon and make it with my son's basketball team colors. Instead of wrapping two, skipping one, I think I'll wrap two, skip two so the stripes will be the same size.

Okay, this has nothing to do with knitting, but don't you just wish you could learn to relax the way a cat does?

Bud makes napping an art. That's why we knit, isn't it? Because we don't have that inherent ability to release life's stresses and just chill out on demand. Oh, to be a cat!

Some Excitement & a New Project

2006-03-30T19:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, first for the excitement. Last Thursday night (actually Friday morning around 2:30 AM) my husband and I were awakened by a strange sound that turned out to be our TV/VCR combo trying to spit out a tape. We turned on the lights to find that they were very dim and fading in and out. Then we heard a loud POP, and when I went into the hallway to investigate, I smelled a strong electrical smell. I got the kids out of bed and took them downstairs while my husband called the fire department -- we were sure there was a fire in the attic. Every time we would try to turn on a light, something else would pop, and in the living room the cable box sparked and popped without being messed with.

Well, four firetrucks, two rescue squad trucks and one police car arrived at our house within a few minutes. They thoroughly checked out the house and determined that it was an electrical problem, but there was no fire -- thanks be to God!

Long story short, we had a problem with one of the electrical wire thingies coming into our house, and the power company had to come out and tear down a shed behind our house to dig up everything. It had caused a power surge that completely fried our TV cable and blew the cable boxes. The only things we lost were my younger son's TV, my older son's alarm clock, power surge protector (ironic, huh?) and the mother board and power supply on his computer.

Lots of excitement at our house that night! While we were sitting in our living room with firemen all over our house, it occurred to me how many things we take for granted, even when we truly think we're being thankful. I realized how quickly we could have lost everything we have. But I also realized that the only things in my life that really matter are the PEOPLE (and kitties) I love -- things can be replaced. I knew that already, but that night I REALLY KNEW it. In fact, I told my boys while we waited in the living room, "We have everything we need right here in this room. But if we have to evacuate, you guys get the cats and I'll grab my looms and yarn!" Okay, so some things are important! LOL

Anyway, on to knitting . . . .

I haven't gotten a lot of things made because I've been working on my Infinity Loom. Oh, how I LOVE it!! Here's the afghan I'm working on now:

The picture was taken when I had just started my third skein of Homespun; now I'm almost to the end of the third one. I love the way it's coming out. I let my hubby choose the colors for this one which explains the earthy tones. When I make one for me it'll be all girly!

I L*O*V*E my 20" AJAL! The first project I did was a checkerboard scarf for Gerard (hubby). I had made him one before on the purple KK, but he said it was too loopy -- he kept catching the loops on things and pulling the yarn. So I whipped one out on my small gauge AJAL -- much better!! See the difference:
The one on the left was made on the purple KK with Bernat's Softee Chunky, two strands held together. The one on the right was made on the AJAL with Red Heart using a single strand. All I have to do is add fringes and it's all done.

How can this little square make a 40-year old woman happy?
This is the first dishcloth I made on the AJAL -- it doesn't look like much, but I just love using it! Doesn't that sound silly? It really does seem to work better than regular old dishcloths. I went out and bought six or seven more skeins of 100% cotton yarn so I make a drawer full of these little babies.

Now I'm going to do some more fun projects -- maybe some of the bunny purses everyone is going crazy with. And as soon as Isela has a pattern available for her cable purse, I'll drop everything and make one of those!

Oh, so many projects, so little time! Just how important are clean floors anyway?

Thanks for reading! Loom on!

Busy Weekend - Regional Champs

2006-03-20T14:02:00.000-05:00

What a busy weekend it was! My son's basketball team competed in the Central Virginia 12 & Under AAU Basketball Tournament. They won the championship and will advance to the state tournament at the end of April. This is our second year as Regional Champs. Last year we were #2 in the state and finished #15 at Nationals. My son is in the back row - #32. The coach kneeling in the front row is my hubby. Aren't they cuties?

While waiting at the gym between games and in the hotel in the evenings, I worked on a few knitting projects. We must have done a lot of waiting, because I accomplished more than I thought I would.

I made another Bangle Purse from the Learning to Knit on Circle Looms book. This one came out great. This is a really quick project, and it turns out so sweet!

Next I tried Patti's Eyeglass Case Pattern. Very easy to do (just remember to use the flat stitch throughout -- I ended up frogging because I started with the ewrap). I'll have to make a black and gray one now to match my car!

I purchased a Honeycomb Beanie pattern from KnitChat.com and made it this weekend. I just love it! I showed it to my younger son and he said it looked like guacamole, so disregard the color if you don't like green (or at least that shade of green). I promise it looked prettier in the store! Anyway, I really like this pattern because it includes instructions for decreasing so the top isn't so bulky.

Next came a purple Mock Crochet hat. I had made one before, but this time instead of a ribbed brim, I used the garter stitch (knit one row, purl one row - I did this for 5 or 6 rows). I love the Mock Crochet stitch in a hat -- it comes out so lightweight. I made this one a tad too long, but the brim can be rolled up to make it the right length.

When using the mock crochet stitch for a round item like a hat, skip the part of the instructions where it tells you to wrap 3, 2 and then 1 at the end of the row. For a round item, you just keep wrapping the three pegs until the desired length is reached. At the end of the very last row, you do the 3, 2, 1 thing.

This might be my favorite project of the weekend. Sara posted a pattern for a Cupcake Hat on her blog, and I just had to try it. Oh my goodness, how cute it is!! What I love most about it is that it looks really hard, but it's EASY, so it's sure to impress!! Unfortunately I don't have any little girls in my house, and for some reason my boys just refuse to try it on ;), so I guess I'll have to take it to church and let one of the little munchkins there wear it.

Oh, when I returned home from the tournament, I was thrilled to find that my looms from Decor Accents had arrived!! Oooh, I'm having so much fun playing with them! I love, love, LOVE my 20" A-Just-A-Loom and am thinking I might need the 12" too (to take with me when we travel). I'll post some photos soon.

Happy looming!

Have You Bought the Book??

2006-03-17T10:15:00.000-05:00

Have you bought Denise Layman's Learn to Knit on Circle Looms book yet?

I bought mine from Decor Accents and received it within a couple of days.

This book is really good. The pictures are great, and she covers all the basics needed to get started.

I made the small bangle bag last night using a set of bangle bracelets I found in my jewelry box, some Red Heart yarn in black, and some Fun Fur Prints.

It was pretty easy to do. I made it a little short since I was just playing with the pattern. I think I did something wrong because my handles weren't exactly right -- maybe I pulled up the wrong loops or used handles that were a little too big or something. I plan to try it again, and as soon as I can get my hands on the larger bamboo handless I'll make the larger one.

I can see making the larger ones and using them as gift bags. Wouldn't you love to receive a set of Bath & Body Works lotions, body wash, etc presented in one of these bags? Or wouldn't a little girl love getting one of these with some cute jewelry tucked inside? Too cute!!

I can also see our knitting group making these to use for Christmas goodie bags. Oh, the ideas!

Anyway, grab this book. It's well worth $9.95 ($13 including tax from DA). (By the way - I'm not affiliated with Denise in any way -- just a fan of the book!)

Thanks for reading!

Two More Samplers & a Kitty Mystery

2006-03-16T14:01:00.000-05:00

I'm having so much fun playing with new stitches on the looms, and since I'll be receiving my new Infinity Board and AJAL from Decor Accents soon, I've been playing around with board stitches as well. Here's what I've come up with.

These were done on the blue Knifty Knitter as a flat panel. If you click on the photos you can see the detail.

Gray - Graciela's Skip & Purl Stitch
Cream - Graciela's Skipped Stitch
Black - Graciela's Tile Stitch -- I'm so bummed you can't see it because of the black. Check out Graciela's blog - you can really see it there. It's so pretty!

I learned the next stitches from the Stitch Pattern books available at Loom Knitting. I bought them after Sara raved about them, and she was right -- they're really helpful.

White - Elongated Stitch (I think this might be the same thing as the Dropped Stitch I've seen described other places). I've seen it used to weave a ribbon into a project, and even by itself it's really pretty.
Blue - Knit Goosebump Stitch
Light Blue - Popcorn Stitch

Blue - Popcorn Stitch again
Pink - Mock Popcorn (from the Stitch Patterns book)
Gray - Mock Crochet Stitch
Cream - Alternate Flat & Ewrap Stitch - I can't remember which group this one came from. I'll add it here as soon as I find it so I can give its "Mom" credit!

Okay, those were fun, but what really excited me was finding new stitches to use on the knitting boards. This is the whole thing:

Starting at the left:
Multicolor - Basic Stockinette
Blue - Figure 8 as described in the KK pamphlet

White - Fashion Stitch, described in the KK pamphlet
Blue - Ribbing
Tan - Open Ribbing

White - Zig Zag Stitch (Not the one in the KK pamphlet that is also known as the Fashion Stitch - this one is very different, and I LOVE it! )
Gray - Stockinette E-Wrap - from the Files section of the Yahoo Board Knitters Group
Cream - Purl Stitch - I was so excited to finally learn how to purl on a knitting board! This one is also found in the Files Section of the Yahoo Board Knitters Group.

Dark Blue - Garter Stitch (alternating Knit and Purl Rows)
White - Seed Stitch (alternating K1P1 and P1K1 rows)
Blue/White - Zig Zag Stitch again - I liked this one so much that I wanted to repeat it in "color" in case the white didn't show up well in the photo.

I wish I had a more creative mind and could look at something I like and make it for myself (without needing a pattern). I'd love to make this Chunky Cable Purse. If anyone knows of a pattern for the looms, please let me know!

Now for the Kitty Mystery.

Exhibit A: The Victim.

Poor little Bud. Saturday morning my hubby and I were having our coffee before he headed in to work, and we heard a pitiful cry outside on the deck. I looked out and there was Sweet, Innocent Little Bud - our full-time INDOOR cat, outside! The night before we had fallen asleep on the couch watching a movie and were awakened by a loud noise. We checked around and found nothing, so we went on up to bed. It had been a beautiful day in VA so the windows were up; turns out the screen was broken, probably by Bud on his way out.

Question is, how did my poor little innocent baby get out?

He either:
(1) Pushed the screen out and escaped, or
(2) (more likely) Fell asleep in the windowsill, leaning against the screen which couldn't hold his weight, so he fell out (which would explain the crashing sound - OUCH!), or
(3) (even more likely) He was PUSHED.

Who would do such a thing? Exhibit B: The Suspect.

This is Whiskers, and as you can see, she loves to sit in the windowsill. Maybe Bud was in her spot that evening. Maybe she had just finally had enough of his wide-eyed, look-at-me-I'm-so-cute, everybody-loves-Bud routine. Maybe her hormones were raging. Who knows? All we know is that Bud ended up outside, and ever since we found him out there and brought him back in, Whiskers won't have a thing to do with him. She hisses, growls, chases him, screams, and generally acts like she's lost her mind. Maybe he smells funny from being outside, or maybe she just finally found her chance to try to get him out of the house.

Exhibit C: The Witness.

There was only one witness to the events of Saturday night. This is Begonia, and she ain't talkin'. I don't think she's to be trusted, though. Sometimes she acts like she's on Bud's side, running to him and offering comfort after Whiskers terrorizes him. At other times she's right beside Whiskers, watching her hiss and growl. She looks innocent, but I'm not so sure her intentions are pure.

I feel like I'm becoming a Kitty Psychiatrist or something, trying to get them to get along again. Never a dull moment in a house with kitties!

Okay, yes, I do have two boys, and I promise to show them off a little. I just need to take a few pictures.

Thanks for reading. Knit on!

Hat / Scarf Sets Finished

2006-03-10T11:35:00.000-05:00

I've finished the hats and scarves for the girls at church. I hope they like them, though with the wonderful change in the weather they probably won't be able to use them until next year. I didn't do anything fancy with these since I needed to finished them quickly.

This is the set for the oldest sister. She's 13 and wanted black and gray. The hat on the left has a doubled brim; the one on the right has a ribbed brim.

The next sister just turned 12. She wanted a white set -- hers came out more of a cream color, but I think she'll like it. The hat on the right has a doubled brim with the hat done with a 2 over 1 stitch. The hat on the right was done with the mock crochet stitch. I think she'll like that one. I may have to go back and do a mock crochet hat for the older sister.

The third sister is 8 years old. The hat on the left has a double brim; the one on the right has a ribbed brim (K1P1 for a few rows).

The last sister is a pint sized 6 year old pistol. She's just so cute! Her set is done with Patons Divine (like the others) with a strand of Caron Simply Soft. As small as her scarf is, I'm still worried that it will be a little too big. She is TEENY.

I finally tried to make scrunchies, and I was so amazed at how simple they are! I made all three of these this morning; each one took less than 30 minutes from start to finish. I made one last night, but I used a pony tail holder that isn't stretchy enough. I went to the Dollar General store and found a pack of 100 pony tail holders for $1.00. I'll be making scrunchies for everyone!

These three are made with one strand of Fun Fur (top left), Bernat Eyelash (top right), and Patons Divine (bottom). I ewrapped and knitted 10 rows and pulled the first stitches up like making a hat brim, placing the pony tail holder between the stitches (not on the pegs). Then I knitted off and did a crochet bind off. Simple as pie!

I made a "sampler" tube to use in my knitting group at church, to show a few of the stitches that can be done on the looms. A few weeks back I purchased some stitch pattern books from Loom Knitting and I used this sampler as an opportunity to play with some of the stitches in the books. I only did a small number of stitches in the book; I'll have to do another sampler with some of the other stitches. I thought these would be plenty to get our little group started.

I started with the Cable Cast on. I used two strands of yarn throughout.

From the left:
Tan - basic ewrap, knit 1 over 1, 12 rows
Black - ewrap, knit 1 over 2, 12 rows
Blue - garter stitch, 14 rows
Tan - purl stitch, 10 rows
Gray - Rib stitch, 10 rows

Black - double rib stitch, 10 rows
White - seed stitch, 10 rows
Blue - moss stitch, 12 rows
Multi-color - flat stitch, 15 rows
Gray - mock crochet stitch, 8 rows

Gray - mock crochet stitch
Blue - checkerboard
Tan - chunky braid stitch, 5 rows
White - half stitch (wrap 4 times, knit off 2 over 2), 5 rows
Blue - double stitch (wrap 3 times, knit off 1 over 2), 10 rows.
Ended with Super Stretchy Bind Off

I tried my hand at Crystal's Flat Bottom Bag last night. The first one I did on the Blue KK, but I did something wrong and ended up with a slightly lop-sided thing. So I frogged it and tried again on my Mitten Loom (since I wanted it smaller to hold my cell phone). I'll be frogging that one too, as I made the flap too long.

That's what I love about looming. You can follow the directions and make something beautiful, or you can deviate from the directions and either make something wonderful or make a real mess. But you can always rip it apart and start over. I'm having so much fun learning new stitches and making cool things. I've never considered myself a crafty person, so each new thing I learn to do with my loom makes me feel a little more creative!

Kitties Everywhere

2006-03-07T14:03:00.000-05:00

My furbabies just love to help me knit. Here are just a few pictures I couldn't resist sharing.

This is Whiskers - our "full-figured" feline. She's lying beside one of the hats-in-progress that I'm working on for the girls in my church.

Here she is again later, after the hat was finished. I had set a completed scarf and the hat down at the end of the air mattress, and naturally she assumed they were meant for her. Look closely - she's right on top of them - the scarf is her bed and the hat is her pillow.

Why on earth did I have an air mattress in the middle of my living room? My family has been blessed with a rare situation. My husband's best friend is married to my best friend, and their kids and our kids are close as well. Their older son and my younger son are like brothers. We've only known each other for 8 years, but it truly feels like we've been lifelong friends. We met in Sunday School class and started hanging out. Now we are family more than friends. I say it's a rare situation because usually either the husbands or wives are friends and the other spouses are acquaintences. We really believe God brought us all together.

Back to the air mattress. My best friend is undergoing treatment for cancer, and when she went to North Carolina for surgery last week, her kids came to stay with us. We have three bedrooms, so we rolled out the air mattress to make room for everyone. It was a bit too cold to put it in the family room in the basement, so we kept it in the family room on our main level and my husband and I slept on it (so of course that's where the cats ended up). While you're reading this, please say a prayer for my friend. She's such a strong person, and she and her husband have amazing faith. We know she'll be fine, but she and her family are traveling a tough road right now.

My friend's daughter took this picture of Bud. Poor thing. She and my older son caught him sound asleep and placed a hat on his head. He didn't even acknowledge them except for giving them a drowsy one-eyed glance.

Bud's a really sound sleeper. Just look:

We have one more cat - Begonia, our prim and proper little lady. We haven't caught her on camera lately, but we'll work on it.

Meanwhile, I'm still working on those hats and scarves for the girls in our church. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Thanks for reading -- knit on!

New looms ordered!!!

2006-03-03T09:51:00.000-05:00

Oooh, I did it! I had a good week with my ebay and website sales, so I treated myself to the 48" infinity board and 20" AJAL from Decor Accents, Inc.

If you're looking for me, I'll be waiting by my mailbox until they arrive!

Yarn stash for projects!

2006-03-02T19:47:00.000-05:00

Woohoo! Our associate pastor/minister of music has four adorable girls (ages 6, 8, 12 and 13), and one of our ladies asked me to make hat/scarf sets for each of them - if I had time. If I had time! I told her I would MAKE time to work on my looms! :)

So she brought this yarn stash to me last week:

So many soft, yummy yarns! These girls are going to be so excited with their goodies. So far I've only finished two hats and started one scarf. I'm not letting this beautiful spring weather deter me. I figure they can wear them next winter if spring arrives before I finish!

One of the girls asked for gray / black, so I started with this hat. The brim is boucle (that's another story in itself!) and the body is Patons Divine.

Here's the scarf-in-progress to match the hat. I started with 10 rows of boucle, and the rest will be done with one strand of Divine and one strand of Red Heart (black). I'll add another 10 rows of black on the other end, and then I'll decide whether to add fringes. The next time I do one like this, I'll start with fewer solid color rows I think.

Another sister wanted white, so here's her hat:

The brim is two strands of TLC Baby in a creamy-yellowish color, while the rest is in white Divine. I'm not completely happy with the hats, and it looks like I'll have plenty of yarn, so I'll probably make each girl two hats each (in different styles) so they can have a couple of choices.

Now back to that Boucle. Oh my goodness, can you say YARN GUTS?? When I started the first hat I was pulling from the center of the skein, and guess what I found -- bunches of KNOTS. What a mess! I should have taken a photo, but I was too busy trying to get it all untangled. I worked on it for over an hour one evening, my husband took over and worked for over an hour, and then I worked on it again the next evening. FINALLY we got it all straightened out, but unfortunately I had to rip the hat apart and start over, and the yarn was broken in a couple of places. Here's the result after putting it on my yarn winder and making neat balls (and after using some for the brim of the hat):

Hard to believe that little pile of yarn almost caused a meltdown! LOL

Just look at that face! Isn't he handsome? That's not my son, but he may as well be. He's one of the players on my husband's basketball team -- he turned 12 in January and is 6'3" tall! He TOWERS over the other players! He's holding the trophy we received for winning the tournament! Anyway, see the hat on his head? That's how I spent my weekend between basketball games. I knitted a hat for my son in his team colors, and he started a trend. One by one each of the players asked for his own hat, so I'm in the process of finishing up the last of eleven blue hats. I think I have four more to go. Whew!

I'm working on my afghan on the yellow Knifty Knitter. I'm making panels and will whipstitch them together. Here's my progress so far:

One panel done. I'm using Homespun yarn and the garter stitch (alternating knit and purl rows). I love the way it's turning out -- I think it will be toasty warm but not too heavy.

I've started my second panel:

I'm keeping the first panel on the loom until I decide whether to make it longer. Right now it's about 36" long.

I picked up a set of these cute row counters at Walmart, ran a piece of yarn through it, and tied it to the last peg on the loom. I wrap a row, knit off a few pegs, and go back and purl those pegs. When I reach the end I switch the number, so I guess I'm really counting pairs of rows? Anyway, I figure as long as I'm consistent it'll be okay.

I'm really playing with the idea of buying a 48" infinity knitting board and a 20" A-Just-A-Loom from Decor Accents, Inc. Oooooh, where's the loom fairy when I need her?? I'm hoping my next entry will be a celebration -- cross your fingers for me!

Delivery Day!

2006-02-21T19:31:00.000-05:00

Today was our church's day to deliver meals to homeless people in our area. I took in all the things I've knitted on my looms in the past month. In all there were 17 hats and 3 scarves.

Today was the first meeting of our knitting group, so we should be able to turn out lots more items in coming months.

Today was "part one" of our knitting group organizational meeting. I had one lady show up, but more are expected at Thursday evening's meeting. I'm trying to schedule it so more can participate, so we'll probably end up with an afternoon and an evening session each time.

Today I taught my knitting buddy how to cast on and do the e-wrap to knit a basic hat with a brim. I had prepared two looms ahead of time -- one with a hat ready for a brim, and one with a hat ready to be taken off the loom and gathered. We had so much fun, and I'm really looking forward to getting a whole group involved.

Some of the projects we're planning to do are:
* knitting items for the homeless in our area - hats, scarves, mittens and socks. There is such a HUGE need for this in our area.
* knitting lap afghans and other items for nursing home residents that we are going to start visiting.
* contacting the local hospital to see what their needs are - possibly baby hats, blankets, and chemo hats
* maybe even getting involved with the prayer shawl ministry

I finally finished the scarf using the mock crochet stitch. I goofed in one little place -- I lost track of which way I was going and put in an extra few stitches. I was going to rip it apart and start over, but I really needed to get it finished by today so it could be delivered to someone who needed it. I was really tempted to keep this hat and scarf for myself -- I just love the mock crochet stitch, especially for the hat.

I'm working on an afghan now using Lion Brand Homespun yarn. I'm using the garter stitch (alternating knit and purl rows) on the yellow KK loom, using all pegs. I love the way it's coming out. I haven't gotten far enough to take a photo yet, but I'll post it soon.

Back to knitting!

Almost finished!

2006-02-17T10:42:00.000-05:00

I'm almost finished with my Semaphore scarf -- I love it! I just have to figure out how to make those pesky little ends quit peeking out. All I need to do now is add the fringes and then I can wear it.

I finally tried the Mock Crochet Stitch -- it's so easy and looks so great! So I sat down and made a hat using this stitch. I love the way it looks, and it's very lightweight.

It was really easy to do. I started with the crochet cast on method and then did two rows of K1P1. Then I started with the mock crochet stitch - I didn't count the rows but I went for about 7 inches. For the last few rows I just did the e-wrap and gathered it off. It didn't take any time at all.

My son's basketball team uses UNC Tarheels colors and I've been trying to find a "Carolina Blue" colored yarn. What a hard color to match! Anyway, I made him a hat and his teammates really liked it, so now I'm working on hats for some of the guys who wanted them. My son's has a brim, but the ones I'm working on now will have no brim. I've found that using the cable cast on method and doing one or two rows of K1P1 gives the hat a nice flat hem with no curl. Here's one I've finished:

These are my son's and my hubby's hats (hubby coaches the team).

The kids have early dismissal from school today, so it's time for mom to get upstairs and get some things done before they get home. I'm hoping for some quality knitting time tonight while they and the hubby are gone to the youth lock in at our church this evening. Woohoo!

Working on my Semaphore Scarf

2006-02-16T11:36:00.000-05:00

I purchased the pattern for the "Semaphore Scarf" from Cindy on Ebay (just do a search for Semaphore Scarf) and started it last night. I didn't understand some of the instructions, so I emailed her. She responded to me lickity-split and explained everything perfectly, and off I went.

I'm using the purple knifty knitter for my scarf, and so far I'm happy with the way it's turning out. I'll probably do a second one using my son's basketball team colors to show my spirit at his games.

My hubby asked me to make him a checkerboard scarf a few weeks ago, and I was fortunate to find this great pattern from www.behappydesigns.com. It worked up quickly and was so much fun to do. It's a little long (it hangs below the bottom of his jacket), so I may end up making him a shorter one and keeping this one for myself.

After I finish the semaphore scarf, I'm going to start experimenting with some stitches and make some different scarves and hats that will be donated to our church's homeless ministry. Every Tuesday we prepare lunches to be delivered to homeless and indigent people in our area, and once a month our church does the delivering (a Christian school and other churches take care of the other days). On our delivery days we deliver our handmade hats and scarves along with other donated items such as clothing, toiletries, etc. Next week we're having the first meeting of our "knitting club" that I'm organizing, so I'll post pictures of our projects (and our fun) later.

I'm itching to start an afghan. I'll start it after I've played with some of the stitches and can decide how I want it to look.

I couldn't resist adding this picture of my knitting buddy, Bud. He's the best "dog" our family has ever had! Every evening he finds me sitting on the couch (next to my snoozing hubby) with my knitting in my lap. He stares me down until I clear out his spot next to me, and then he jumps up and cuddles next to me on the couch while I knit. Of course he grabs at the yarn from time to time, but I'm sure he's just trying to help. Finally he falls asleep (until one of the other cats joins us and wakes him).

Just starting out . . . .

2006-02-08T20:15:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my new blog, where I will share some of the things I'm learning to do with my knitting looms. I'm a recent "loom addict" -- I only started in December 2005, but it has become an obsession! I've made a bunch of hats and scarves for friends and family, and now I'm making items to donate for our church's homeless ministry. I'll start posting photos shortly, as well as some links that have been helpful to me. Feel free to add your "loom related" comments.
Lisa